Chuck Versus the Unbirthday
by PurpleAffair
Summary: It's difficult to keep things from your fiancé, especially when she's a spy. Chuck had a surprise for Sarah and it turned out that she had one for him too. One-shot. Set towards the end of season 4.


**A/N:** This has been a work in progress for a while now and I figured it's now or never. I hope y'all enjoy. I apologize in advance for any missed grammar mistakes.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Chuck or any other characters.

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Chuck skid to a stop, the linoleum floor of the Buy More squeaked underneath his high tops. He quickly rounded the Nerd Herd desk, the keys in his hand digging into the palm of his skin. After two failed attempts at sliding the key into the keyhole Chuck forced himself to pause and take a breath. With more patience than he felt he methodically slid the key in and turned the lock of the drawer. A wave of relief washed over him when he spotted the rectangular box inside.

"Woah buddy, what's got you all in a huff?" Startled, Chuck turned to see his best friend looking at him with a concerned face. He cleared his throat and gestured to the box. Pressing his lips together hoping his expression said _cameras_.

"Ah," Morgan glanced up indicating that he understood. He conspicuously leaned over to whisper to Chuck, the latter action was a moot point considering the little bearded man was being as subtle as a fly in milk. "What's that doing here? I thought you said you had a good spot."

"I did but my fiancé is a spy," Chuck said through his teeth. "If it hadn't been for Casey, Sarah would have found it three weeks ago when she was looking for some old paperwork."

"Dude, you kept it in Castle!?"

At the time the old mission file cabinet seemed like the perfect place to hide the bracelet Chuck bought Sarah for her birthday. Most of the reports are all in Castle's computers. Only the early mission reports of Operation Bartowski were on paper. They were kept more as a formality than anything.

"Sarah hadn't opened the file cabinet in a year and a half," Chuck explained. "I tried putting it behind some of my games after that but last Saturday she had an urge to give the apartment a good scrub down. The Buy More seemed like my best bet."

Morgan clutched his heart with his right hand. A faux look of hurt grew on his face. "Ye of little faith! Would I not have been your best bet?"

Chuck placed a hand on the shorter mans' shoulder and gave a light squeeze. Searching for the gentlest way to put it he finally cocked his head to the side. "You know I would trust you with my life, right? But after you spilled the beans about my proposal, I thought it'd be better to hide the-" Chuck stopped himself from saying bracelet, just in case Sarah was watching and trying to read their lips. He knew she suspected something was up and he's holding out that Sarah thinks it's that he's still a week behind on mission reports instead of the truth. "You know," he finished lamely.

"That crazy Belgian had Chuck-napped you and I had never seen Sarah so upset. When she asked what it was I couldn't _not_ say something."

"I actually meant the other time," Chuck deadpanned "but yeah, the first time too."

"Oh...she told you about that." Chuck only nodded in response, an amused smile on his lips.

"In my defense Chuck, you are engaged to a very intimidating woman." Morgan held his hands up.

There was something slightly wrong with him that Chuck loved how turned on he got when he witnesses or heard about how intimidating his lady could be. "Yeah, she is huh?" Chuck said with a slightly dreamy face.

"Oh-kay," Morgan drew out the word and broke Chuck out of his revive. "Are you gonna go out and wine and dine her tonight?"

"No and yes," Chuck answered as pocketed the box that held the bracelet. "Sarah's not one to make a deal of it. This morning she started off like any other day, left before I got up. I thought I'd make her dinner, a nice intimate night in."

Morgan smiled and nodded. "Nice, very nice. I like where this is going."

"And I'd better get going if I want to get a jump on dinner before Sarah decides to head home early." He bid Morgan farewell and made his way back to the apartment.

During the short drive Chuck went through the evening's plans in his head. First he'd prep all of the food before a quick hop in the shower to rinse down. Once everything was cooking he could split his time between setting up the dining area for dinner and the bedroom for a relaxing body massage once the food and wine settled. Tonight was going to be perfect. Because it was Sarah's day and while she wasn't a perfect person, she was absolutely perfect for him. And what more could a guy ask for.

••••••

The gentle hum of the oven mixed with the soft music playing through the blue tooth speakers gave the apartment the intimate feeling Chuck was aiming for. Almost everything was ready for the woman of hour to arrive. He quickly went over his mental checklist. The chicken pepperoni was finishing in the oven, a strawberry cheesecake and champagne bottle sat in the fridge, and a chilled bottle of Sarah's favorite wine sat in a bucket on the table next to the salad bowl and basket of warm bread. Of course an arrangement of gardenias Chuck picked up on his way home was the centerpiece of the table.

Chuck hummed along with the song playing while he walked to turn down the lights. Pulling the matches out of his back pocket, Chuck lit the candles he strategically placed around the room in what he hopped would give them enough light to keep the room romantic rather than awkwardly dim.

Just as he finished lighting the last candle the tell tale click of the lock on the front door meant Sarah was finally home. He quickly straightened up beaming at the beautiful blonde as she walked through the door.

"Chuck I'm home-" Sarah took one step over the threshold and stopped. Her momentum kept her hair going, moving over her shoulder, making a nice contrast against her blue blouse, the one that make her eyes look like the deep blue of the ocean.

Chuck took the opportunity of her pause and spread out his arms, "Happy Birthday baby!"

Sarah inhaled deeply, a soft "Chuck," escaped. She turned around to shut the front door and he could hear the lock latch. She stayed that way for a moment too long, making Chuck second-guess himself and stick his hands in his pockets.

When Sarah always said she didn't like making a big deal of her birthday he thought she meant no parties, especially surprise parties, which he good-naturedly teased about doing for years since she seemed to hate the idea so much. But he didn't stop to think maybe Sarah didn't want to celebrate at all. For previous birthdays they had dinner with Ellie, Devon, and Morgan, granted that was before they were together and more for their cover, given Sarah's reluctance to even that.

Sheepishly he spoke up, "I uh…I know you like to downplay your birthday but I thought maybe you'd like a small you and me celebration."

Sarah turned around brow furled and parted lips. "Oh, Chuck." She said his name again in that soft tone. "You're so sweet," Sarah quickly closed the gap between them and kissed him. His hands unconsciously fell to her hips, preventing her from moving away. Eventually Chuck pulled back slightly breaking the kiss.

"So you like."

"I do."

She used her right hand to push a lock of hair behind her ear. She pursed her lips slightly twisting them to the side like she did when she was nervous, besides her eyes it was Sarah's only tell. Chuck could never figure out if Sarah purposefully let him see her do that or if she felt comfortable enough with him since getting together that it happens unknowingly. Then again this was Sarah, the best spy in the game, it's probably the former.

When it seemed she wasn't going to say anything, Chuck guided Sarah toward the table, crouching on his knees in front of her when she sat rigidly on the chair he pulled out. "Hey," he unclasped her hands in each of his rubbing his thumbs over her knuckles, "It's just you and me."

Sarah seemed to relax a little at that. Pulling her hands out of his she cupped his face and took a deep breath. "I love you." Confused but always receptive to any declaration of love Sarah said out loud, being the woman of action over words, Chuck smiled. "But today is not my Birthday."

His smile vanished, "Wha- Uh what?" He shook his head twice. Sarah's hands gripped his face a little tighter, attempting to hold his gaze.

He must have heard her wrong because it sounded like Sarah said today was not her birthday. _Today_ , not the cover date they picked when she pretended to be his girlfriend, but today the date on her CIA file, was not her birthday. He was so confused and if she had said that Jar Jar Binks deserved to be in the Star Wars franchise it would've made more sense.

The oven timer dinged jolting him out of his thoughts. "That's the Chicken Pepperoni." He jumped up and quickly crossed into the kitchen.

"Chuck," Sarah trailed after him.

He turned to face her after placing the pan on the stovetop. "I'm sorry, but it sounded like you said _today_ was not your birthday?"

"No it's not," Sarah shifted her weight to lean against the entryway. "You got this date from my CIA file." Chuck nodded but she pushed on before he could reply. "I've told you how Graham recruited me when my dad was taken in. When he made my file nothing could be real. I was the daughter of a Con man, I helped him, nothing could link me back to that, to my dad." Her words came more rapid as she went on. "When you accidently flashed on my file two months ago I didn't-I thought we'd keep celebrating the same day we always have. It's the date everyone's been used to."

Sarah looked slightly distressed and it made Chuck want to smack himself. He shouldn't have walked away from her, the chicken pepperoni could have held, he shouldn't have let her think he was in any way upset. Birthdays and Christmas were sore subjects for Sarah. Chuck didn't forget about how Jack Burton's actions during Sarah's childhood made what should have been joyous and happy occasions into con-job opportunities, he couldn't, he just gotten too much into his own head about it all.

This was not how the night was supposed to go.

Determined to fix the situation he walked toward her. "Yeah, okay. That makes sense, that makes total sense baby." Chuck brought her into his embrace and she melted against him.

"Today is just your unbirthday." He pulled back to smile at her.

"My unbirthday?"

"You know _Alice in Wonderland_ , the scene where she stumbles into the Mad Hatter and the March Hare and they explain how you only have one birthday but three hundred and sixty-four _un_ birthdays to celebrate."

"Right, I never could get thorough that movie." She gave a shudder. "That Cheshire cat," she said as if it explained everything.

He laughed, his chest bumping slightly into hers. It was ironic that Sarah would stop watching the movie right before the scene. Sarah made an affronted face and smacked his arm half heartedly, "Don't laugh! It was traumatizing." The light crinkle around her eyes gave away her amusement.

Chuck held up his hands in surrender, matching her smile. He tucked Sarah into his side and gave her a light squeeze before leading her back out of the kitchen to the table. "We can do your unbirthday tonight and we can keep the cover date to celebrate with the gang."

Sarah looked at him long enough to make him think she might object. After a moment of contemplation she said, "Well today is your unbirthday too." She used a finger to lightly tap his cheek.

"Mhmm, it is isn't it?" Chuck gave her the Bartowski eyebrow dance, "Double the celebration."

He gestured for her to take a seat, she hummed giving him a soft smile while he pushed in her chair. "I hope you are prepared for the best unbirthday dinner you've ever experienced milady," he said. His backward half-shimmy dance back into the kitchen earned a giggle from Sarah.

••••••

The air in the room smelled sweet like the lavender massage oil that sat on the nightstand and was soaking into their flushed skin. Their labored breathing was the only sound that broke the silence of the apartment.

Sarah lay directly on top of him, face tucked in the crook of his neck, creating a tickle with each deep exhale. Even with the tingle to his neck there wasn't a force on earth that could make him move her. Each delicious point of skin-to-skin contact kept the euphoric high of their previous activities humming inside him.

Chuck slowly and oh so softly dragged his fingertips along her spine twice, making Sarah shiver and let out a low groan. She gave a tight squeeze with her arms, sandwiched between the mattress and his upper back, her hands gripping the top of his shoulders before releasing and flopping onto her back.

It was his turn to groan but the noise that came out from his throat turned more into a whine. Sarah giggled, "It's been a while since you've made a noise like that."

Not having a reply in the form of actual words he shuffled himself in her direction on his back until their arms touched. He reached out to grasp her hand and threaded their fingers together.

As Sarah rubbed her thumb across his knuckles, he began to be lulled into sleep. Just before he closed his heavy eyelids a glint of light filtered through the curtains and jolted something in the back of his mind. Chuck took a deep breath and mentally shook himself awake. He slipped his hand out of Sarah's and sat upright.

"Hey," Sarah said. Her groggy tone gave away how close she was to falling asleep as well.

"Hey," Chuck looked down at her, taking in the messy blonde hair sprawled across the pillows. He brushed a lock of hair behind her ear, "I'll be right back."

He extracted himself from the bed, slipped on a pair of boxers, and ran out to his messenger bag.

When he got back Sarah had turned on the lights and thrown on the dark maroon button up that he had worn for dinner, fingers playing with the cuffs as she sat expectantly against the headboard.

"What's that?" She asked, nodding at the hand Chuck held behind his back as he crawled back onto the bed.

"I-ah, got you something."

Sarah took the box and slowly lifted the lid. Her breath caught when she saw the bracelet, lifting it out to look at it in the light. "It's beautiful," she whispered.

He watched her reaction; a warmth settling in his chest. Reaching out he folded her right sleeve up. She smiled, handing him the bracelet before holding her arm out for him to clasp it on.

"I know you like to wear your charm bracelet a lot but I thought maybe some days you might want to mix it up a bit."

She leaned up for a quick kiss, "Yes, thank you. I love it." Sarah turned her wrist from side to side, examining the intricate weaving of the silver band.

The previous trepidation and nervousness of wondering weather she would like it fell away. Of course he knows Sarah and her taste and Chuck considers himself perceptive to the preferences of his fiancé but to witness her reaction and _know_ is something entirely different.

"You could have saved this you know," She finally tore her eyes away from her wrist to look at him, playfully flicking a loose curl only to have it bounce back into place. "Tucked it away and gave it to me on my other celebration with Ellie and Devon." "And Morgan." "And Morgan," she mimicked with a smile.

"Also hell no," He said emphatically, perhaps a little too emphatic because Sarah looked a little taken aback, "What I mean is, do you have any idea how difficult it was to keep something from you?"

Sarah looked smug with herself in her response, "Which is why you should never keep things from me."

Chuck tilted his head to the side, "Even a surprise?" Chuck knew the answer to his question as soon as he finished.

"I'm a spy I hate surprises."

Chuck smirked and reached out to unclasp the bracelet, "Well in that case." Sarah immediately pulled back her right arm and held up to her chest, protectively cradling the bracelet in her left hand. "What are you doing?" A tinge of incredulousness was laced in her voice. "You hate surprises so I'll just take back this one," he said with the cheeky smile he knew the blonde spy loved and hated in equal measure.

She narrowed her eyes at him and leaned in close until they were a hairbreadth apart. The playful act fell away, the air filling with the electricity between the two. Chuck closed his eyes and leaned in, there was a whiff of cool air before he found himself on flat on his stomach, face smashed to Sarah's pillow, arms in her tight grip, listening to her pleased cackle.

She gave him a loud smack to Chuck's exposed cheek, "I think I'll keep this surprise."

"Okay, uncle. Uncle!" He cried with choked a laugh. Sarah relented and hauled him up in one go, an example of her physical strength.

"But seriously baby, you almost found this twice in the last three weeks."

Sarah grabbed her pillow, pushing it against the headboard and gave it a couple of punches before settling herself against it. "Well you did a pretty good job at keeping it from me" she said somewhat begrudgingly.

He perked up at that. "Really? I was becoming paranoid that you might have become suspicious."

"I said pretty good."

Chuck pouted, his lower lip puckered out, for a moment he thought he pulled it off flawlessly — minus the wrong date thing. Sarah giggled and reached up to run a thumb across the end of his brow, "I was suspicious at what you've been up to but still surprised." Her eyes softened in the way that only happened when it was the two of them alone, "Pleasantly surprised."

Chuck's pout melted away into a smile, Sarah leaned in and pressed a warm kiss to his lips. "You know," he murmured against her lips, "I might have one more surprise for you."

She pulled away with a suspicious look. It was truly adorable, especially since he knew this surprise would go over well, just like it did on the sleeper train when they stole away from Paris.

He was up and in the kitchen before Sarah could reply, placing a huge slice of strawberry cheesecake on a plate with a helping of whipped cream and stuck a fork in it. With his free hand he grabbed the champagne, bumping the fridge closed with his hip.

When he walked back into view of their bedroom Chuck could see Sarah straining to look at what was in his hands from her spot on the bed. He lifted his hands up in a gesture of victory, brandishing the treats, "Ayyye."

Sarah giggled and reached out her hands to take the plate while he set down the champagne bottle on the nightstand so that he could rejoin her on the bed. "You went all out today, didn't you Mr. Bartowski?" She said.

"Well, I aim to please."

Sarah looked at the cake then up at him with a furrowed brow. "Where's your slice?" She asked with a teasing tone.

Chuck barked out a laugh, lunging to blow a raspberry on the side of neck, making her let out shriek. Hands too busy trying not to drop the cake made Sarah tilt her head to her shoulder, which ended up giving Chuck access to give her ear a small nibble before he withdrew.

"Here you cheeky nerd." She cut off a piece and held the fork to his lips.

He gave her his best playful smolder and slowly took her offering. Sarah giggled at his antics, the sound filling him up with warmth. She ate a piece herself giving him a dimpling smile. Chuck settled in next to Sarah, sharing the cake and champagne straight from the bottle, feeling utterly and wholly content.

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 **A/N:** Sarah's aversion to the Cheshire cat is based off my own. I never thought it could get creepier but the 2010 version had to prove me wrong.

Let me know what y'all thought!


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